Monday, 22 August 2016

Co-Operative party to see Blairite entryism ?

The Sunday Times reports the “party within a party” framework will be based on the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, which counts Mr Corbyn as a member.According to the paper, the rebels will look to sign up more than 100 MPs to join the Co-operative party, Labour’s sister party, and sit on the green benches as “double hatted” MPs.

Since I am not going to pa Murdoch to read one of his newspapers I have relied on the politicalbetting blog bit it seems

The group will appoint their own whips in parliament to co-ordinate rebellions where they disagree with Mr Corbyn’s policy and look to change the rules to appoint an elected Shadow Cabinet, as previously called for by the party’s deputy leader Tom Watson.It will draw up policies on areas including Brexit and national security, the Sunday Times reports.The rebels apparently prefer the creation of a new group on Labour benches to forming a breakaway party.They argue Mr Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, both members of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, would struggle to criticise the move after they voted against the Labour leadership from the backbenches when in power.

If this true will we be seeing allegation from Co-pop about Blarite entryism!? The Wikipedia article on the Party within a Party tells us that

Since 1927 the Co-operative Party has had an electoral pact with theLabour Party, with both parties agreeing not to stand candidates against each other. Instead candidates selected by members of both parties contest elections using the description ofLabour and Co-operative Party.[1]The Co-operative Party is a legally separate entity from the Labour Party, and is registered as a political party with theElectoral Commission.[2]Co-operative Party members are not permitted to be members of any other political party in the UK apart from the Labour Party andSocial Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) in Northern Ireland.The Co-operative Party is the fourth largest party in the House of Commons with 25 Members of Parliament, as well as representatives in the House of Lords, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and local government.In keeping with its co-operative values and principles, the Co-operative Party does not have a leader like other political parties, instead Gareth Thomas serves as Chair of the National Executive Committee, while Gavin Shuker is Chair of the Co-operative Party Group of Parliamentarians.As a result of an electoral agreement with the Labour Party,[9] "Labour and Co-operative Party" candidates receive financial help with election expenses from the Co-operative Party, including funding parliamentary candidates. There are other Labour MPs who are Co-operative Party members but are not sponsored. One of these was Gareth Thomas MP, chair of the Co-operative Party since 2001 and of the Co-operative Congress in 2003, who was invited to join the parliamentary group in 2003.

Interestingly the artivle states that

Until the 1990s, the number of Labour Co-operative candidates was capped at 30. The party's capacity to support more than the previously agreed number is debatable as the prospects of non-sponsored members are not always unfavourable. The benefits of the agreement are twofold, Labour gaining candidates with lower election costs and the party gaining influence within a Labour movement.

Also

The Co-operative Party has not registered a logo with the Electoral Commission for use on ballot papers. Following the passing of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, candidates standing under a joint description were unable to use any registered emblem.[10] The law was amended in 2013 to allow the use of an emblem by candidates standing jointly for two parties;[11] this allowed Labour and Co-operative Party candidates to use the registered Labour Party emblem in the United Kingdom general election, 2015.

So it appears that those members of the PLP who wish to join the Co-operative party would need that party to change its rules.

There are There are 25 Labour and Co-operative MPs in the House of Commons, eight Labour and Co-operative MSPs in the Scottish Parliament:and a staggering are eleven Labour and Co-operative AMs in the National Assembly for Wales I say staggering because I have seen very little backing the actual setting up of Co-operatives in Wales coming from the Labour Welsh Government , which suggest that the use of the term Lab-Co-op is about being sponsored rather than being a actual campaign for a real Co-operative movement. The Westminster MPs it is claimed who would make a mass entry into the Co- O- Party would seek to appoint their own whips an would seek to introduce their own policies Maybe the Co-op party would have to change its rules and its ethosThough that may not be difficultHow much this would change the Co-op Party we don't know but Imagine the new elected members would seek to prevent Corbynists joining the ordinary membership pf the CO-OP party and also if they wish ti receive election expenses seek donations perhaps from business leaders to the Co-op party to finance them.May be the first action of the Party within a Party will be to drop the hyphen and become simply the Cooperative party,